"The only real solution is very active management by sevaral moderators, who have to move wrong posting to the right place and alert users, if they go too far off topic."
Re: I completely understand that this is a natural human tendency and I did not mean to sound as though I thought it a negative thing. It's wonderful and spontaneous and sometimes provides an interesting slant to the main topic being discussed.
However, is it not possible that once per month or quarterly these posts can be moved to the proper thread/folder as part of the maintenance schedule? for ex. It may be helpful to new members to be able to see an index of folders that under the heading of, lets say,
CONTAX CAMERAS:
Aria (production date/End of production date, if applicable); followed by a nice sized, beautiful photo and comp-lete manual specs, than perhaps add detailed, objective analysis by a professional, well respected, photographer,(at least on this site); Below that the member feedback with the the five star ratings you mentioned above?
This indexed structure would be repeated for all Contax Cameras (old and new), lenses, assessories, etc,
Such a structure could make it easier to add to or modify on a monthly or quarterly time schedule, and easier for new members and new Contax users to navigate on the home page, if possible.
Would this not make things a little easier for you and your team as well as new members?
This core database can be used for all Contax/Yashica Equiptment dating from the very first Contax and Yashica camera and equiptment ever made. IMO such a structure would offer simplicity, be very indepth and thorough and frankly very cool.
Another major benefit of maintaining a rock solid core database is that discussion threads will not have to repeatedly address concerns about purchasing specific equiptment unless the core database has not yet covered the topic.
This can enhance the flow of discussions by not having to address the same questions repeatedly on other threads. This would allow members to stay on topic while directing new members to the appropriate thread. Personally, as a relatively new member I find it difficult to direct other new members to a specific thread because I often do not know if the topic has already been covered elsewhere unless it has a specific folder that I can find. But if there were a Contax Camera folder for ex&le that I knew was complete, in one place, and finding the information assured than I could easily direct to that folder by name and location.
What do you think, Dirk?
'But I think most people do not make it to the manuals section as soon as it is outside the forum itself.'
Re: The "Manuals" thread does not cover the Contax ST and many other Contax cameras. More, most new visitors like myself would not think to visit the manuals section, instead they would be searching the home page for direction to the information they are trying to locate, as I did.
As I see it this is a serious Contax forum and I believe it is your intention that this site be the definitive site on anything Contax/Yashica related. If that is the goal than I would like be able to refer to a comprehensive database that contains just about any information a new or old Contaxian needs or wants to know about Contax/Yashica equiptment, and such information needs to be easily found, and immediately at ones' disposal at the click of a button.
Such a structure would offer, IMO the greatest convienience, if index is situated and accessed from the home page, preferably or immediately after sign in, if possible.
I hate to harp on it but let me again refer to the Contax ST as an ex&le, there are indeed many other Contax cameras and equiptment that fall into this situation but I will stick to the ST even though I have since sold mine.
Ex. On this forum there remains very little information, ie., solid specs as well as in depth analysis and discussions, in past and present threads, on this out of production camera as well as many others, IMO such should not be the case.
Discussions/threads are great and exceedingly beneficial but there must also be a strong, permanent, historical core database on just about anything "old and new" with regards to Contax/Yashica. I think I just repeated myself. Oh Well.
Further, knowing production and out of production dates for all or most Contax/ Yashica gear is a real plus for new/old contax users. This information can prove very useful when one is considering a purchase. Afterall, there is no way to tell what new visitors are searching for when they first hit this site via a search engine.
A strong core content database can be the deciding factor for enrolling new visitors and subscriptions.
"What we are thinking about is to offer maybe in the future en extra topic within the forum, where users post just a very short review of
i.e. the ST. This would be restricted by the layout to i.e. 3 lines pros and 3 lines cons with a rating i.e. 4 out of 5 stars and somewhere the basic specs." Would that be in the direction you are thinking?
Re: This is a really nice feature, one that I would like to see happen, yes. IMO, however, this does not go far enough. Perhaps in the future, you may duplicate this feature when and if you get advertiszers and retailers to support this site, Yes? No?
"Did you use in the past also reply by e-mail and if not, why?"
Re: I have used the e-mail a couple of times early on when I visisted the forum. I did not know the rules of how to reply to members and as a result once sent you a reply e-mail.
Usually when I respond to e-mails I click on the "send" button so I thought that was what I was supposed to do here as well. It took a while to realize how this forum works, I had to learn as I went.
Perhaps, there should be a Q& A that introduces new members to this forum, with instuctions on its netigette rules, how to get around, and who's who in terms of the team involved in creating this forum.
Anyway, I'm off track. I may use the e-mail option if I want to engage in a private discussion or Buy/Sell deal, both very rarely happens but I would like the option of doing so if the need arises.
I hope this helped Dirk,
G. Ashton
